Sarah Palin Sinks In Polls, Struggles To Raise Money
Sarah Palin was once a fast-rising GOP star, considered a sure bet to win the presidential nomination and a powerful fundraiser. Those days seem to have passed.
The newest report from Palin’s leadership political action committee shows that her fundraising has dropped sharply in the past year, and a new poll shows that she remains deeply unpopular even in her home state.
A new Federal Election Commission filing shows that SarahPAC raised just over $460,000 during the first six months of 2013, not a bad sum but just a fraction of the $1.7 million she raised by this point in 2011 or the $1.2 million she had last year.
The filing shows that she spent about $500,000 in the first half of the year, but not very much of it went to candidates. Instead the bulk was spent on consultants, travel, speech writers, and other logistical fees. The PAC also paid for SUV rentals from limousine companies in Alaska and Washington, D.C.
Officials running SarahPAC maintain that they’re still in great shape and ready to throw their weight around for mid-term elections.
“The PAC has the resources ready to contribute to whomever the governor decides to support and endorse during the 2014 election cycle,” its treasurer Tim Crawford said in an e-mail Wednesday.
The PAC has plenty to fall back on as well, with $1.1 million in the bank in June.
As Sarah Palin struggles in fundraising, her political prospects also look increasingly bleak. A new report from Public Policy Polling found that if Palin runs for the Alaskan Senate seat, she would lose badly to Democrat Mark Begich.
The same poll showed that Palin had a 58 percent unfavorability rating — and that’s from Alaskan voters. Just 39 percent of respondents said they view the former vice presidential candidate favorably.
Sarah Palin has yet to declare her intentions, but she has publicly criticized Begich, saying he “has not done what he has promised to do for the people of Alaska” when it comes to natural resource development or other issues important to voters.
